Frequently asked Questions about EarthX Lithium Batteries

This battery comes with advanced technology to protect it from over-discharge, the number one killer of all batteries.  If your battery reads near 0 volts, the over-discharge feature has been activated, thus your battery must be charged. (The ETZ series does not have this feature). If you left your lights on, key on, have a faulty stator, or have a parasitic drain this can easily happen.  Our BMS is designed to disconnect the flow of current in the event of over-discharge (internal disconnect switch is opened).  Many smart chargers will not attempt to charge a low voltage battery (below 9V).  If this happens, there are several ways to charge the battery.

1. If you have an EarthX ETX battery manufactured after 2017, simply disconnect the negative terminal from the vehicle and it will reset itself and then you put it on a charger. (On the backside of the negative terminal there is a letter and a number, if this number is a 7 or higher, you have this feature built in)
2. If you have the  Optimate lithium charger. Simply connect the alligator clips first, plug in the charger next, and the save mode will come on and start charging it.
3. Another method is to connect your charger to the EarthX battery as normal, then put either a jump pack or another 12V charged battery in parallel with the EarthX battery so the charger will read it’s voltage and engage.  Once the charger sees voltage it begins to charge as normal.  After 5-20 seconds you can remove the jump pack or jumper cables (being careful not to disconnect the charger). Recharging this battery from the depleted state can take from a couple hours to overnight. To watch a video of how to do this, go to:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-YYpy9hYU
4. If the battery will not reset and charge after attempting either 1 – 3 above, you could have a damaged cell so do not continue to attempt to use or charge the battery.
   

BMS reset: Step 1: connect the clamps to the battery. Step 2: plug the charger into the wall.

If the charger is already plugged in, unplug it from the wall, wait 3 minutes, and then put the clamps on the battery and plug in. It can take up to 3 attempts to reset the battery depending on how discharged it starts at.

Please read the detailed section on this topic under BATTERY CHARGING section, https://earthxbatteries.com/our-batteries/battery-charging. In the event you have to charge the battery, do not use a charger that has a de-sulfate mode;  an automatic de-sulfate mode; or a charger that will pulse above 15V!  This will void the warranty and damage the battery. Use any “modern” lead-acid battery charger or Lithium battery charger (LiFePo4) that does not pulse above this level (15V). By “modern” we mean a charger that was built in the last 10 years that automatically turns off when the battery is fully charged (based on volts).  If you are unsure how high the voltage goes with the charger you are using,  use a voltmeter to check the voltage while charging so you do not exceed 14.6V.

Most of the time, it means you need to charge the battery as it is at a low charge level but it could mean several things. First thing you need to do it put a voltmeter on the battery, if the voltage is less than 13.28V, the LED light will flash to let you know to charge the battery. If the voltage is above 13.28V and flashing, then you could have a weak cell /a cell out of balance/or defective cell and you need to contact EarthX for a warranty coverage if it is less than 2 years old. The LED will also flash if the voltage is too high, above 14.6V. If the light is solid and remains on for more than 10 minutes, then it is an indication of a BMS electronics problem and contact EarthX.

LED Light	Voltage	Possible Cause	Recommended Action
Slow Flashing (5s on/5s off)	Less than 12.8V	Battery over-discharged (due to faulty charging system)	Charge battery. Once charged, the light will stop flashing.
Slow Flashing (5s on/5s off)	Less than 13.2V	Weak or failing cell	Charge battery. If voltage drops below 13.2V within a few days, discontinue use.
Slow Flashing (5s on/5s off) (> 1 hour time period)	13.2V-14.6V	Weak or failing cell	Discontinue use. If in flight, this is not an immediate issue unless it is in conjunction with a charging system failure.
Slow Flashing (5s on/5s off)	Greater than 15.2V	Over-charging (due to faulty charging system)	If in flight, shutoff charging system immediately. Aircraft over-voltage protection is required if alternator charging system is greater than 20 amps (i.e. over voltage crowbar circuit)
Slow Flashing (5s on/5s off) (< 30 min. time period)	13.2V – 14.6V	Cell to cell charge levels are not balanced	May come on briefly during periods of high current charging until the cells are automatically balanced.  Try charging with a plugin charger, like an Optimate Lithium charger.
Solid Light	Any voltage	BMS electronic issue	Discontinue use. If in flight, this is not an immediate issue unless it is in conjunction with a charging system failure.
Solid Light that turns off after 3 minutes	Any voltage	Short Circuit protection was activated	Nothing needs to be done.
Short Flashing (2s on/2s off)	Any voltage	High battery temperature (> 65°C / 150°F)	Let battery cool down prior to cranking or charging.

Please read manual for step by step directions.

Yes, this is normal. A lithium battery can and will accept a much higher charging current than an equal size lead acid battery.  If your battery is not fully charged, your alternator can potentially output a current equal to or slightly above the alternator’s rating for a few minutes to top the battery off. Your fuse, breaker, or current limiting device should be sized approximately 20% above the alternator rating. Example, if you have a 40 amp alternator, use a fuse, breaker, current limiter set to 48 amps (or 50amps).

No, the amount of current hand held starters can put out can be damaging to the EarthX batteries and we do not recommend nor warranty cover the batteries in this type application. 

You can safely recycle your lithium battery for free. Just go to http://www.call2recycle.org/ to find a local drop off site near you.

The ETX18C has 230CCA, 340PCA; weighs 2.2 pounds; has 6.2Ah capacity and has the full battery management system with a 2 year warranty. The cost is $219.

The ETZ14C has 330CCA, 690PCA; weighs 2.5 pounds; has 6.8Ah capacity and has the battery management system minus over discharge protection and excessive cranking protection so it will not cut off in cold weather starts with a 1 year warranty. This battery was designed for high cranking amps in the cold. The cost is $249.

They are both the exact same physical size.

The ETX36C/D has 320CCA; weighs 3.9 pounds; has 12.4Ah capacity and has the full battery management system with a 2 year warranty. The cost is $349.

The ETZ14C has 330CCA; weighs 2.5 pounds; has 6.8Ah capacity and has the battery management system minus over discharge protection and excessive cranking protection so it will not cut off in cold weather starts with a 1 year warranty. This battery was designed for high cranking amps in the cold. The cost is $249.

The ETX36C and the ETZ14C are both the exact same physical size but it is smaller than the ETX36D.

The ETX12A has 135CCA, 220PCA; weighs 1.3 pounds; has 4Ah capacity and has the full battery management system, dimensions are 4.5” L x 2.6” W x 3.7” H, with a 2 year warranty. The cost is $169.

The ETZ5G has 140CCA, 240PCA; weighs .9 pounds; has 3.4Ah capacity and has the battery management system minus over discharge protection and excessive cranking protection so it will not cut off in cold weather starts with a 1 year warranty. This battery was designed for high cranking amps in the cold. The cost is $139.

Starting the engine (cranking amps) is only one part of what the batteries does. Your battery is also part of the charging system and the current from the alternator goes through the battery. You must use a lithium battery that is designed to handle the current from the alternator or you can damage it, cause premature failure or possible even cell rupture. In the lithium world (LiFePo4) the maximum current rate is 5C x true amp hour (not equivalent rating). As an example, the ETX900 is a true 16Ah battery. The max charge rate then is 80A (5C x 16AH = 80A).

NO. Unless you have replaced the charging system with a new modern permanent magnet generator and rectifier regulator. It is very important to only use a lithium battery in a vehicle that has a modern charging system that will regulate the voltage between 13.8-14.6V. Older bikes/vehicles that have not been updated are not advised to use a lithium battery as the voltage will swing too high and too low at times and damage the battery.

Unlike Cold Cranking Ampere (CCA), the Pulse Cranking Ampere (PCA) rating does not have an “official” definition by the automotive industry. CCA tests are done at 0 deg F with a 30 second discharge time which is unrealistic for most motorsport vehicles. PCA is a measure of battery discharge amps for <10 seconds at 77 deg F (25 deg C). Our manual shows the CCA and PCA rating of each battery. The CCA rating is most important for snowmobiles due to the colder temperatures.

All batteries lose cranking amps in colder temperatures. Every make, model, and year of vehicles has different amounts of cranking amps needed to turn the engine over. You also have to factor in the health and maintenance of the vehicle as well. So the answer is…… it depends. Some vehicles have no issues starting at -25F while some could have issues at -5F. What is unique about a lithium battery is you can warm the internal components by simply trying to start your vehicle. Do not try starting your vehicle for more than 10 seconds per minute as that is not good for your vehicle or battery, but after attempting to start the vehicle, wait one minute, try again. Depending on the amount of warming up needed to get the desired cranking amps, the amount of times needed to do this varies.

No. The voltages are not the same and you will over charge the lead acid battery and drain the lithium. 

 In performance and real life usability for lead acids that are vehicle starter batteries,  they only use 30% of the stated amp hours or stated as “30% depth of discharge” before the voltage drops so low you can not start your vehicle. So only 30% of its amp hours are usable, whereas lithium batteries have a 98% depth of discharge. For example, our ETX24 is a replacement for an YTX20 Yuasa series, which has 18ah of capacity. The amount of actual useable amp hour is  (18ah x .3 = 5.4ah). We use a 8.2ah cell in our ETX24 which is actually 2.8 amp hours MORE than the lead acid battery we are replacing. Here is a detailed article to help explain this. https://www.dropbox.com/home/EarthX?preview=SLA+vs+Lithium+Ah+AN1506_RevA.pdf 

NO. It is not a good idea to “jump” a motorsport battery from a car or truck battery.  It is much better to re-charge it if at all possible. On the top of each battery is a label that will specify the maximum amount of charging amps to use and a “jump” start from an automobile is about 150X more amperage than maximum amperage recommended, if not more. This can cause the cells to rupture and even catch on fire. This is true for all batteries, lithium or lead acid, if you must jump start the battery, do it from a like sized battery. A lead acid is much more tolerant than a lithium battery as they absorb the charge completely different.  It is perfectly fine to jump start the EarthX battery from another motorcycle sized battery or use a jump pack.

That depends, if you have a high compression V-Twin engine greater than 110ci , you may exceed 680 cranking amps and will exceed our ETX36’s capabilities. The ETX36 series is limited to 680 max cranking amps. Do not use this battery for an application that exceeds this limit. We do offer the option 2 upgraded options which is the ETX900 (840PCA) or the ETX1200 (1200PCA).

Lithium batteries require no maintenance such as adding liquid, worrying about freezing in subzero temperature, or the heat of summer damaging them. Just be sure the terminal connections are tight and free of corrosion. If you have a vehicle that has a drain even if the key is off, (Harley’s definitely do) then you will need to charge them every 1-2 months of inactivity (depending on how much of a draw there is determines the length of time it can sit) by putting a charger on for 2 hours or less, however long it takes for the green light.

You must use a modern smart charger. These types of chargers will turn off automatically when the battery is fully charged. While the charger is in operation, it will output approximately 13.8 -14.6 volts. A fully charged lithium battery will measure 13.28 to 14.6 volts.

If a battery does not seem to charge or perform as well as it once did, it may be for one or more of the following issues:

• There may be a problem with the charging system. While the charging system is in operation, it will begin putting out approximately 13.8 -14.6volts.
• The vehicle electrical system may have a short circuit or current drain
• The terminals on the battery are not properly tightened
• There may be a problem with the battery itself so if you have verified that it is not a parasitic drain, and the battery is losing power within 1-7 days, then contact EarthX. Do not continue to attempt to charge or use a battery that will not hold a charge as it might indicated cell failure and continued use can cause cell rupture, smoke and even fire.

Lithium batteries and lead acid batteries internal resistance increases as the temperature decreases, so the battery will put out fewer amps in cold weather.

Yes, Lithium battery can be installed in any position for they are a dry cell technology.

The new fully automatic chargers on the market today need to be hooked up to a battery before they will output any voltage. This is primarily a safety feature that prevents spark when hooked up, and protects the charger against reverse polarity hookup. Some chargers need to see as much as 9V volts before they recognize that they are attached to a battery. Once the charger is hooked up, it should output 13.9-14.6 volts. If your charger does not do this, you may want to contact the manufacturer for further troubleshooting tips.

No. As with any battery being charged it is best not to do this in the event of a faulty charger.  Follow these safety tip for charging ANY type of battery.

• Never leave the battery or the vehicle unattended when recharging it.
• When charging a battery, place it on a non-flammable, and remove any flammable items nearby.
• Unplug chargers from the battery or vehicle always after the battery reaches full charge.
• Disconnect chargers when not in use.

Connect a voltmeter to the battery and start your engine. At idle, you should get a reading of 13-13.3V. Increase the RPM’s to around 3,000 and for 5 minutes monitor the voltage which should increase and maintain a voltage of  13.8 – 14.6 volts . If your charging system does not output this voltage, there may be a problem with the charging system.

Only when needed which is when the voltage reads below 13.3V. It depends on the battery model (the larger amp hour batteries will need less topping off than say the scooter battery)  but if not in use or left in a vehicle, make sure you check the voltage and charge at least once a year. Due to lithium batteries extremely low self-discharge rate, less than 50% of its charge is lost over a 6 month period, so you may not have to charge your battery before the season starts! If the vehicle cranks over, then all is good.

A lithium battery should be fully discharged before disposal. Lithium batteries are classified by the federal government as non-hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream. These batteries, however, do contain recyclable materials and are accepted for recycling by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation’s (RBRC) Battery Recycling Program. Go to the RBRC website at www.rbrc.org for additional information.

NO. The batteries are designed to be water resistant but not to be used in submerged underwater sports. This will not only destroy your battery but void your warranty as well.